Liam Tancock - Britain’s pride and World Champion in the 50m back-stroke category
Britain’s back-stroke specialist, Liam Tancock, was born on May 7, 1985, in Devon. Tancock has represented Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and has been a back-stroke medallist from 2005-2009. Tancock has a swimming career spread over eleven years.
The 25-year-old Tancock, made a debut to his national swimming career in 2001 at the British Championships, where he won a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke meet, in a time of 26.83 seconds. He finished seventh in the 100m back-stroke in 58.97seconds and
11th in 200m Individual Medley with a time of 2:10.40 minutes. He also ended 22nd in the 200m back-stroke. His performance was excellent for a debut, but not good enough to qualify him to higher levels of swimming competitions, so he
did not participate in any other event that year.
Then in 2002, Tancock’s performance was not impressive enough to earn him a medal at the British Championships. With a timing of 27.45 seconds in the 50m back-stroke meet, he finished 11th in the race. He finished the 100m back-stroke in 59.24
seconds, a time above his last year’s effort, but he improved his 200m back-stroke swim by finishing seventh in a time of 2:08.21 minutes.
The same year at Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) National Championships, he won a bronze medal in the 50m back-stroke with a timing of 27.53 seconds, but finished 12th and 10th in the 100m and 200m back-stroke in a time of 1:02.42
and 2:13.01 minutes, respectively.
Then at the 2003 British Championships, Tancock won a silver medal in the 50m back-stroke meet with a time of 26.57 seconds, while he ended 10th and 33rd in the 100m back-stroke and 200m back-stroke, respectively. Keeping in mind his
performance so far, Tancock decided to put all his efforts and focus on the 100m back-stroke event.
In the following year, he competed only in the 100m back-stroke at the same Championships and for the first time in his career, he smashed a silver medal in a massively improved time of 55.71 seconds.
The year 2005 was the beginning of Tancock’s golden era. He started with his participation at the National Swimming Championships, where he won his first gold medal in the 50m back-stroke in a time of 25.38 seconds and a silver medal in 100m back-stroke
in 55.21 seconds.
Soon after the championship, he entered the European Short Course Championships, where he smashed a bronze medal in the 50m back-stroke with a 1.32 seconds improvement in his time. Tancock earned a bronze medal in a time of 24.06 seconds. After a few months,
he competed at the 2005 World Championships, where he won a bronze medal in 50m back-stroke with a time of 25.02 seconds and finished 10th in 100m back-stroke category.
Then in 2006, Tancock failed to obtain any medals in the individual events at the European Championships, finishing sixth in 50m back-stroke and fourth in 100m back-stroke, but he won a bronze medal in the 4*100m medley relay. Then at the 2006 Commonwealth
Games, he secured a gold medal in the 100m back-stroke in 54.53 seconds, and a silver medal in 50m back-stroke in 24.84 seconds.
The year 2007 remained limited to his participation at the World Championships only, where Tancock scored two bronze medals in the 50m back-stroke and 100m back-stroke in 25.23 and 53.61 seconds, respectively.
Tancock won his first medal in the 200m back-stroke at the 2008 British Nationals in a time of 1:57.96 minutes. He then won a bronze medal at the ASA Championships in the 50m back-stroke in 22.91 seconds. He won three medals at the World Championships in
the same year, which included a gold medal in 100m back-stroke, two silver medals in 50m back-stroke and 200m IM, respectively.
At the 2010 National Championships, he won a gold medal in the 100m back-stroke in 52.85 seconds, and won a silver and bronze medal in the 50m back-stroke and 100m back-stroke respectively, at the European Championships. He occupied two gold medals in the
50m back-stroke and 100m back-stroke meet, and a bronze medal in 4*100m medley relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Now, at the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships, Tancock won a gold medal in the 100m back-stroke and qualified for the 2011 Shanghai World Championships. Tancock also claimed himself to be the fastest swimmer in the 50m back-stroke category after the
Championships.
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